John Korst – president “A Thousand Books” USA
Anamaria Cătănoiu – librarian and PR manager
“Duiliu Zamfirescu”Vrancea County Library
Anamaria Cătănoiu – librarian and PR manager
“Duiliu Zamfirescu”Vrancea County Library
Romania-USA
Example of a successful international book donation project
Example of a successful international book donation project
Towards the end of 2003 I’d been to Romania as a tourist a few times. I visited all the areas between the Bran castle and Bucharest and all the monasteries in the Moldova region. All this time I kept doing casual research about Romania on the internet. And that is how I found out that there were a number of Peace Corps volunteers assigned to teach English in schools in different parts of the country. Having a native speaker helps a great deal in teaching a foreign language and also facilitates the learning process for the kids. But the lack of support-materials has always been a problem and the English books are always expensive and the budgets insufficient, especially in the villages where the most of the American volunteers are teaching.
So I started sending books to the school libraries where I had established contacts with the PCVs. I’ve sent thousands of books to many tens of Romanian schools through my NGO, “A Thousand Books”, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. One request for donation I received from the American PCV Eric Bleich, who had been assigned to the Vrancea County Public Library. The first package contained 40 children books and Eric told me the librarians were very pleased with their condition and content. This led to the idea (mine or Eric’s, I don’t know exactly whose anymore) of sending a larger volume of books. Up to that point I had been sending two or three boxes maximum to the schools that requested books, but here we were talking about…a 1000 cubic foot container. I told Eric that such a quantity could be shared among other libraries in the country, were they able to find financing for the shipping. The books themselves were to be a free donation. And this meant the beginning of the project.
Eric and Anamaria, from the “Duiliu Zamfirescu” Vrancea County Public Library, presented the project at the Libraries National Conference in Galati, in October 2006, and although there were more libraries which initially showed interest, due to the financial aspect there were only three left to actually take part in it: “Duiliu Zamfirescu” Vrancea County Public Library, represented by Eric and Anamaria, “Petre Dulfu” Baia Mare County Public Library – American Corner, represented by the librarians Lia Sabau and Adina Doroltan and “I.G. Sbiera” Bucovina County Library from Suceava, represented by its director, Gabriel Carabus. It fell on the shoulders of the former to manage the project with all that it involved: shipping, customs formalities, internal transportation, budgeting and of course constant communication with the other two libraries.
My work was in America. I had to find thousands of books and a storage space for such a large volume. And there were also some self-appointed conditions: the books had to be interesting, on a wide range of subjects and in good condition in order to be truly useful. This made my work more difficult because I felt had to personally check each book to make sure it met the requirements. I also dealt alone with all the collecting and packing. For six months I drove all over the region to gather the books. Luckily we have charity book sales and churches which donate or sell books at a very low price. They allowed me to choose the best. And thus I collected a considerable quantity which was significantly exceeding my hopes and theirs. I couldn't weigh the books before shipping (which was ultimately a requirement) and my initial estimate of 5 tons was finally determined in Romania to actually weigh approximately 16!
All this time, in Romania, Eric and Anamaria were facing important bureaucratic impediments to finalize the necessary customs paperwork, to convince the port authorities that the donation benefited from certain VAT exemption regulations and to organize the final pick-up and delivery to the destination. It was an asset that the customs commissioner agency which dealt with the shipping and the customs formalities, RCS Comisionar SA from Bucharest, represented by Camelia Guta, was in constant communication with Eric and Anamaria, which ensured the success of the project.
One year passed between the initial donation proposal and the press conference announcing the end of the project. The 16 tons, equally divided among the partner libraries, were finally in their new homes. Almost all the participants took part in the press conference and they disclosed the reasoning behind this huge effort: the money each library put down for the project wouldn’t have been enough to purchase not even 1% of the amount of books each received! And the quality was considered exceptional from all points of view!
The American partner’s work on his end was over. The libraries are now beginning a new important stage, to enter the books into circulation for the readers. Such a stage requires time. It could take a few months or even more to make available 5 tons of books to the public. But the follow-up of the project had been discussed from the start. Once the public access is available, the books would become the subject of a special interlibrary exchange procedure allowing “rotation” or loan between the three libraries as to grant access to the public to a wider variety of disciplines and documents.
For the Vrancea County Public Library this project meant enriching the English holdings and laid the foundations for a new Foreign Language Library to support education and culture through specific activities.
Although to many it may not seem an important or interesting project, we should mention that this is the first national project of the kind, marked by the large book quantity on the one hand, and to the partners involved, on the other. It is also the first concrete example of collaboration and common initiative between Romanian county public libraries and the first which led to the creation of a small-size professional network to partner on an international level. We hope that the positive outcome will stimulate other libraries to make similar projects for the benefit of the communities they serve.
All those interested in the details about the project, should feel free to watch the You Tube presentation movie John Korst, the president of the American NGO, made with the help of Anamaria Catanoiu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF6tumPmX7w (for the English version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwptUyd0icM (for the Romanian version)
or www.bjvrancea.ro (Vrancea County Library website for both versions)
Also, for those who would like to learn more about the activity of John Korst and his NGO, you can search on:
www.AThousandBooks.us
*Pictures from the Vrancea County Library archive
So I started sending books to the school libraries where I had established contacts with the PCVs. I’ve sent thousands of books to many tens of Romanian schools through my NGO, “A Thousand Books”, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. One request for donation I received from the American PCV Eric Bleich, who had been assigned to the Vrancea County Public Library. The first package contained 40 children books and Eric told me the librarians were very pleased with their condition and content. This led to the idea (mine or Eric’s, I don’t know exactly whose anymore) of sending a larger volume of books. Up to that point I had been sending two or three boxes maximum to the schools that requested books, but here we were talking about…a 1000 cubic foot container. I told Eric that such a quantity could be shared among other libraries in the country, were they able to find financing for the shipping. The books themselves were to be a free donation. And this meant the beginning of the project.
Eric and Anamaria, from the “Duiliu Zamfirescu” Vrancea County Public Library, presented the project at the Libraries National Conference in Galati, in October 2006, and although there were more libraries which initially showed interest, due to the financial aspect there were only three left to actually take part in it: “Duiliu Zamfirescu” Vrancea County Public Library, represented by Eric and Anamaria, “Petre Dulfu” Baia Mare County Public Library – American Corner, represented by the librarians Lia Sabau and Adina Doroltan and “I.G. Sbiera” Bucovina County Library from Suceava, represented by its director, Gabriel Carabus. It fell on the shoulders of the former to manage the project with all that it involved: shipping, customs formalities, internal transportation, budgeting and of course constant communication with the other two libraries.
My work was in America. I had to find thousands of books and a storage space for such a large volume. And there were also some self-appointed conditions: the books had to be interesting, on a wide range of subjects and in good condition in order to be truly useful. This made my work more difficult because I felt had to personally check each book to make sure it met the requirements. I also dealt alone with all the collecting and packing. For six months I drove all over the region to gather the books. Luckily we have charity book sales and churches which donate or sell books at a very low price. They allowed me to choose the best. And thus I collected a considerable quantity which was significantly exceeding my hopes and theirs. I couldn't weigh the books before shipping (which was ultimately a requirement) and my initial estimate of 5 tons was finally determined in Romania to actually weigh approximately 16!
All this time, in Romania, Eric and Anamaria were facing important bureaucratic impediments to finalize the necessary customs paperwork, to convince the port authorities that the donation benefited from certain VAT exemption regulations and to organize the final pick-up and delivery to the destination. It was an asset that the customs commissioner agency which dealt with the shipping and the customs formalities, RCS Comisionar SA from Bucharest, represented by Camelia Guta, was in constant communication with Eric and Anamaria, which ensured the success of the project.
One year passed between the initial donation proposal and the press conference announcing the end of the project. The 16 tons, equally divided among the partner libraries, were finally in their new homes. Almost all the participants took part in the press conference and they disclosed the reasoning behind this huge effort: the money each library put down for the project wouldn’t have been enough to purchase not even 1% of the amount of books each received! And the quality was considered exceptional from all points of view!
The American partner’s work on his end was over. The libraries are now beginning a new important stage, to enter the books into circulation for the readers. Such a stage requires time. It could take a few months or even more to make available 5 tons of books to the public. But the follow-up of the project had been discussed from the start. Once the public access is available, the books would become the subject of a special interlibrary exchange procedure allowing “rotation” or loan between the three libraries as to grant access to the public to a wider variety of disciplines and documents.
For the Vrancea County Public Library this project meant enriching the English holdings and laid the foundations for a new Foreign Language Library to support education and culture through specific activities.
Although to many it may not seem an important or interesting project, we should mention that this is the first national project of the kind, marked by the large book quantity on the one hand, and to the partners involved, on the other. It is also the first concrete example of collaboration and common initiative between Romanian county public libraries and the first which led to the creation of a small-size professional network to partner on an international level. We hope that the positive outcome will stimulate other libraries to make similar projects for the benefit of the communities they serve.
All those interested in the details about the project, should feel free to watch the You Tube presentation movie John Korst, the president of the American NGO, made with the help of Anamaria Catanoiu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF6tumPmX7w (for the English version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwptUyd0icM (for the Romanian version)
or www.bjvrancea.ro (Vrancea County Library website for both versions)
Also, for those who would like to learn more about the activity of John Korst and his NGO, you can search on:
www.AThousandBooks.us
*Pictures from the Vrancea County Library archive
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